TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Social restrictions and strict health protocols, make some people uncomfortable and depressed. As a result, the problem mental health also appear, ranging from anxiety, irritability, unhappy, and others.
Psychologist Inez Kristanti explained the status of mental health in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic. A study from Iskandarsyah A. (29 April 2020) with 3,686 respondents from 33 provinces in Indonesia showed that 72 percent of participants reported experiencing anxiety and 23 percent reported feeling unhappy. Inez explained that the symptoms of anxiety include worrying that something bad will happen, excessive worry, irritability and irritation, and difficulty feeling relaxed.
“Meanwhile, the reported symptoms of depression include sleep problems, lack of confidence, fatigue, and loss of interest,” said Inez.
It’s not just social distancing that causes mental health problems. Para COVID-19 survivor also feel this mental disorder, especially those who experience long COVID. Internal medicine specialist dr. Jeffri Aloys Gunawan from GDTI said COVID-19 is a disease that has long-term effects.
There is literature that says a year after being exposed to COVID-19, almost 50 percent of them still feel at least one symptom. Symptoms experienced by COVID-19 survivors after 12 months or more vary, ranging from shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and tiredness. For example, low-intensity exercise for only a short time makes you tired. Meanwhile, 70 percent of those six months who have recovered from COVID-19 are said to still feel some symptoms.
“Long COVID-19 is if after four weeks since starting to feel the symptoms of COVID-19 until being declared negative there are still residual symptoms. These symptoms can include shortness of breath, joint pain, muscle pain, cough, diarrhea, loss of smell, and taste,” he said. Jeffrey.
Jeffri explained that the corona virus can also cause cognitive aspects consisting of reasoning and analysis to decline. This will greatly impact productivity.
“Disturbed cognitive will affect the quality of a nation’s human resources, which in the end will affect the outcome or gross domestic product (GDP) of a country. The performance of this country against other countries will be increasingly lagging behind,” explained Jeffri.
A study published in The Lancet in April 2021 found that a third of COVID-19 patients had been diagnosed with neurological or psychological symptoms, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and psychosis, within six months of contracting COVID-19.
“Most of those who come to us are those with psychosomatic and anxiety disorders,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ratih Ibrahim, clinical psychologist, CEO and founder of Personal Growth and Friends of the Serviam Vaccination Center who is also a COVID-19 survivor admits that fear, horror, paranoia, anxiety (PTSD) persists even though he has been declared cured.
“Mental health needs to be considered when someone experiences Long COVID-19, especially because they will feel frustrated because the symptoms of the disease are still felt even though they have been declared cured. On the way to recovering from Long COVID-19, patients must understand that this is a process,” said Ratih.
Ratih also gave tips to make mental health recover, especially for COVID-19 survivors. The first thing to do is regular breathing exercises. Also apply good exercise or physical exercise, eat a balanced nutritious diet, adopt good or healthy lifestyle habits, and apply regular sleep habits such as 7-8 hours and don’t stay up late.
A person with a high level of stress may experience burnout. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the phenomenon of burnout is a syndrome due to chronic stress that has not been successfully managed by everyone. Burnout reduces productivity and drains energy, leaving people feeling helpless, hopeless, tired, and quick to anger.
If you experience this for a long time, it will have an impact on social life, especially work, you are vulnerable to upper respiratory tract disease. Therefore, it is very necessary to immediately consult an expert if you feel you need help. Consultation will help find the root cause of stress and get the right therapy. Consulting a doctor or psychologist is now easy to do, especially since the presence of telemedicine services.
Also read: Even though working from home, employees still need long leave
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